RIVERTON — Criminal charges were filed Thursday against a Riverton man with military experience accused of shooting and killing his stepson while he was showing his guns to his stepdaughter.
Police say he waited four minutes before rendering first aid.
Joseph Le Page Lee, 46, is charged in 3rd District Court with manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and four counts of reckless endangerment, a class A misdemeanor.
On June 17, Haven Alexander McBride, 18, was shot in the head and killed in the living room of his Riverton home. Lee told responding officers that “it was an accidental shooting.” He said he had just returned home from purchasing a “‘hip pack,’ two suppressors, two body armor plates, and medic patches for his emergency kit” and his stepdaughter had asked about his guns, according to charging documents.
“Lee explained that it was muscle memory. ‘You take the mag out, you rack, aim it down, and pull.’ Lee stated that the barrel of the gun was up and not down because he was showing (the girl) something. Lee stated that in his mind, (the magazine) was not in there and ‘bam,’ (McBride) fell,” the charges state.
Lee told police he then “took off his hat, gave (McBride) a blessing, and then started CPR. Lee explained that he had just cleared the same gun and thought he had picked up the cleared gun. Lee explained that he has two Glock 19Xes and the cleared gun did not have the magazine in it. Lee stated that he always wondered why people have accidental shootings and always called those people ‘idiots,’” according to the charges.
During their investigation, Riverton police reviewed video surveillance from inside the home. The video, which is little less than 8 minutes long, shows (McBride) is in the process of sitting back down on the couch, a gunshot is heard and (he) immediately falls to the ground and does not move," the charges say. “Detectives noted that it took Lee approximately four minutes from the time of the shooting before he started CPR.”
Investigators say Lee “stands up, tells his wife to call 911, proceeds to manipulate and remove a magazine from at least one pistol, and then puts the guns away without checking on (McBride),” and then gives his stepson a “blessing” before performing CPR. “(Lee) claimed that he didn’t immediately render aid, because he knew (McBride) wouldn’t come back from this and CPR was just standard procedure,” according to the court documents.
Prosecutors further note in the charges that Lee “claimed he was a medic in the military” and had “a trauma kit in the home” but did not use it to help his stepson.
“(Lee’s) actions on this day were reckless. (He) stated that he was in the United States Army as a Green Beret, meaning that he has extensive training in the operation and safe handling of firearms. (He) also admitted that he was aware of the rules of how to properly and safely handle a firearm. (Lee) did not follow safety protocols when he was handling the gun, when he had it pointed toward the members of his family, and when he pulled the trigger firing one round that killed his stepson,” charging documents state.
Prosecutors have requested that Lee be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without the possibility of posting bail pending trial.